Once In a Blue Moon
by Kairos
Summary: The tale of the four Dimension Senshi in present day Tokyo. Please Read and Review!
1. Prelude

A/N: At last! The first part of the rewrite is done! Granted, it is only the prelude, but compared to the fact that I haven't been writing at all or in just paragraphs at a time, this is great! ^_^  
Disclaimer: I own all you do not recognize, but the rest belongs to Naoko Takeuchi. ^_~  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Only a few days after the start of a new school year, while Tokyo was still in the end of summer, a girl with short cut, vivid blue hair, bright blue eyes, and a small smile, was late for the first time that anybody could remember.  
  
"Ami-chan!" Usagi cried in surprise as her friend came running up beside her as she frantically dashed for the school. "You're late! I never thought I'd see the day!"  
  
The blue-haired genius grinned back at her blonde friend, "Ah, but I have a reason."  
  
Usagi shook the comment off, making her long meatball like pigtails fly back behind her, and challenged Ami. "Race you to the school!"  
  
Immediately Usagi shot off ahead of Ami, seeming to leave her in the dust. As she ran, she grinned, realizing that the genius hadn't caught up to her yet. Soon the school gates were right before her and the blonde knew she was going to win. But just before she reached them, a pale blur shot by and through the gates.  
  
"Nani?!" She exclaimed, coming to a halt inside and turning her attention to the blur.  
  
Instead of seeing Ami, who she expected, she saw a rather pale girl with very light, straight, blonde hair cut to right above her shoulders, pale blue eyes, and a triumphant grin plastered on her face. Ami came running through the gate a moment later, stopping by her pigtailed friend.  
  
"Ohayoo gozaimasu," the new girl addressed them in pretty good Japanese, but a definite American accent, and gave a little wave with her hand.  
  
"Ohayoo gozaimasu," Ami replied and smiled.  
  
"Ohayoo gozaimasu ," Usagi greeted as well, then asked, "Who are you?"  
  
"I'm Conti Trish. What may I call you by?" She asked, tilting her head slightly to the side.  
  
"I'm Tsukino Usagi, and this is the genius girl, Mizuno Ami," Usagi replied.  
  
"Do you attend school here?" Ami asked curiously as the three of them walked into the building.  
  
"I do now," Trish answered. "At least for the next year. I'm an exchange student from America."  
  
"Are you in Ms. Haruna's class?" Usagi inquired.  
  
"Uh, I think so," Trish said slowly. "Spelled h-a-r-u-n-a?"  
  
At Usagi's nod, the pale girl smiled, "Now I finally know where I'm going! Show the way!"  
  
Trish followed the other two down the hallway and up a flight of stairs to the classroom. Usagi and she went through a door nearby and Ami continued on her way to her own room.  
  
~*~  
  
"Late again, Miss Tsukino?" Their teacher, Ms. Haruna, asked as Usagi tried to sneak into the room.  
  
The blonde hung her head, but she was used to it for the sheer number of times she was late, and sneaked a wink at her best friend, Osaka Naru, who sat in a middle row of desks. Naru smiled back, then suddenly looked behind Usagi and a surprised look crept on her face.  
  
"Gomen nasai, Haruna-san," Usagi replied, lifting her head up, then quickly glanced back to see what Naru was surprised about. Trish's head was poking through the doorway, looking confused as she glanced around.  
  
"Usagi," Ms. Haruna said, pointing to her desk. "Go on and sit. This class has to start eventually."  
  
Usagi complied and sat in her desk, which was placed directly behind Naru's, revealing Trish's head from where it had been hidden by the blonde's body. Ms. Haruna, now noticing the student, smiled and beckoned her inside.  
  
"Ohayoo gozaimasu," Trish muttered sheepishly.  
  
"Ohayoo gozaimasu," the teacher returned. "Being late is not the best way to start your first day here, Ms. Conti."  
  
"Gomen nasai," she mumbled, blushing.  
  
"I see you've already made friends with Ms. Tsukino," Ms. Haruna went on, narrowing her eyes. "Just don't pick up any of her bad habits, please." Then she smiled at Trish and turned to the class, "Class, we have a new student today."  
  
She nodded at Trish and the girl spoke, "Ohayoo gozaimasu minna-san, I'm Conti Trish. I'm from Orlando, Florida in the US of A. I am happy to have been able to come here as an exchange student and I hope that perhaps we can be friends."  
  
Trish smiled sheepishly at the silent class before her and tried not to fidget in her nervousness. She turned her head to look at the teacher, wondering what she was supposed to do next. Ms. Haruna smiled back at her.  
  
"Welcome, Trish-san," she said, breaking the silence. "You may sit down in that desk," the teacher pointed toward a desk one back from the first row and diagonal to Usagi's.  
  
"Ohayoo again, Usagi-san," Trish whispered as she slid into her seat.  
  
"Strange girl," a boy whispered from the back, but Trish heard him anyway.  
  
"Of course she is, she's /American/," replied a girl sitting next to him.  
  
Trish blushed even deeper and slid down lower in her seat, trying to avoid the class's stares at the foreign girl.  
  
~*~  
  
Deep in the shadows of a room not of Earth origin, two deep orange eyes suddenly snapped open. The creature shook its head several times, then reached up with both hands to rub at its eyes before looking around the room.  
  
"What has happened?" A baritone voice asked, apparently coming from the orange-eyed creature, "What has happened to this place?"  
  
A small orange orb materialized in its hand, which he held out to light up the room, while revealing its face in the process. A tall man, probably around 5'10, with very pale skin, high cheek bones, and bright orange, spiky hair stood there in gray khaki pants and a long-sleeved, light gray, turtle-neck sweater.   
  
The light also revealed the room, which seemed to have been partially demolished in a large blast along while ago, for there was a very thick layer of dust on everything. But despite the rubble laying all over the floor and the three-foot wide hole in the roof (which showed it was nighttime outside), a large, black, rock-hewn chair stood like new in the far corner of the room, surrounded by two tables which held large oil lamps.   
  
Sconces were nailed into the stone walls at odd places where there obviously once were held lit torches. In the center of the room, where a circle of light fell through the hole in the roof, laid a lady. Her features were blurred, though, due to a thick crystal enclosure around her body, but the man could tell that she had brilliant orange hair like his own and wore a soft orange dress.  
  
He recognized her at once and gave a small sob to see her in such a state. The man tried to walk towards her, but found himself hindered greatly by a crystal case much like her own, except a lot thinner. Annoyed, he brought his hand back into a fist and punched the crystal with as much strength as he could muster, which wasn't much since his muscles were out of shape for not being used in ages, but enough to make small cracks appear in the crystal.  
  
Urged on by this, he punched it again and watched in delight as the cracks spread outward a few feet. With one last punch, the crystal shattered, and he fell forward, gasping for breath when he realized he could breathe again.  
  
The man tried the same procedure on the lady's casing, but after several more punches and a few frustrated kicks, he was soon exhausted. Defeated, he slouched down into the black chair and stared at the unyielding crystal.  
  
For how long he sat there, he wasn't sure. It was only when a brighter light began to shine through the hole that he arose from his position and walked over to the lady. He stared down at her for a moment, then looked up through the hole to see a bright star shining down on him, the one he had once loved to be in the light of. But now he resented the light and what it had done to him and the lady.   
  
He stepped out of the circle of light, but continued gazing up. At the corner of the hole he could see part of the blue and green planet that the room and the small asteroid it rested upon orbited. The man wondered if the inhabitants were still alive, after the many years that had passed. Their warlike nature surely would've wiped them out by now, he thought.  
  
"Shadows?" He called, diverting his gaze from the planet, "Are you still here?"  
  
A hissing sound answered him and out of a shadow in the corner of the room stepped out what appeared to be a living shadow. It had the basic shape of a lady, with a single, large, bright orange eye that floated around in the head area. The shadow bowed to him.  
  
"Massster," she hissed, though there was no visible place that her voice could've come from, "you awaken?"  
  
"Yes," he answered. "Atra, right?"  
  
"Yesss, massster," Atra answered, giving a nod.  
  
"Why didn't you wake me before now? What has happened?" The man questioned, remaining strangely calm.  
  
"We couldn't. The crystal could not be penetrated by usss," she replied. "And what hasss happened, we are not entirely sssure."  
  
"What do you mean?" He asked sharply when Atra paused.  
  
"We were alssso placed in ssstasssisss and have only recently awakened," she said.  
  
"But what happened after I was hit?" He continued, suddenly recalling the last thing he remembered of a blazing disk of light hitting him in the stomach.  
  
"Kaisssha encasssed you in cryssstal to protect you," she answered. "And then ssshe tried to do the sssame to our attackersss, but it backfired and she wasss encasssed in cryssstal inssstead. We tried to help, but they drove usss back and froze usss in time. How we have awakened, though, we ssstill do not know."  
  
"Arigatoo, Atra," he said softly. "That will be enough. But tell me, do you know of any way I might be able to free Kaisha?"  
  
"You need energy," she answered confidently. "Then you can ussse that to crack the cryssstal apart." She paused, but seeing the next question on the man's face, quickly added, "And the closssessst available energy is from the humansss down on the planet'sss sssurface."  
  
"Good," he replied, smiling at the shadow lady. "Do you think you could send down one of your Shadows to collect some energy?"  
  
"Yesss, of courssse, massster," Atra said.  
  
"I knew I could count on you," he turned and sat back down in the black chair. "Report back when you do get enough energy. But now, I need some rest," he added, closing his eyes. Soon, he drifted off to a real sleep.  
  
"Yesss, massster," Atra hissed softly, then turned back to the shadowy wall. "Umbra!"  
  
Another shadow stepped forward, this one also shaped like a lady, but a bit shorter than Atra. She opened her two small, vibrant blue, eyes and bowed to the shadow lady before her.  
  
"Massster?" She hissed in a much lower voice.  
  
"I'm sssure you heard our Massster," Atra stated. "Go down to the planet at once and retrieve sssome energy from the humansss."  
  
"Yesss," Umbra returned. She stepped underneath the light coming from the hole, then sprang upwards into space before zooming off towards the planet.  
  
~*~*~*~  
A/N: Small note owing to the fact that some SM fans don't know the Japanese phrases...  
Nani -- What  
Ohayoo gozaimasu -- formal Good Morning  
Gomen nasai -- formal I'm sorry  
Naru Osaka -- Molly  
Usagi Tsukino -- Serena  
Ami Mizuno -- Amy  
And the /'s indicate italics, since I have yet to figure out how to make different fonts and bold and italics on these things.  
Please review!! 


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Who's this new girl we heard about from Ami-chan, Usagi?" Minako asked as Usagi entered Rei's shrine for their afternoon study session.  
  
"Conti Trish," she answered, plopping down next to Rei. "She's an exchange student from the Unites States."  
  
"Is she pretty?" Minako pressed.  
  
"Is she snobby?" Makoto also asked.  
  
"Is she smart?" Rei joined in.  
  
"I don't know!" Usagi cried, "I only met her today!"  
  
"Really, we should be focusing on studying, not the personal life of the new girl," Ami pointed out and the other girls groaned.  
  
For a few minutes, the room was silent as the girls tried to follow Ami's advice and study. Usagi tried to focus, but she found her eyes kept wandering toward a stack of Sailor V comic books in the corner. After several minutes of watching Usagi's eyes wander, Rei finally strode over to the stack, picked them up, and carried them out of the room.  
  
"I wasn't going to read them!" Usagi protested, but it fell upon deaf ears.  
  
"I wonder…" Minako muttered, following the stack of comics as it left with her eyes.  
  
"Wonder what, Mina-chan?" Makato asked, looking up from her history book.  
  
"If we're ever going to have to battle monsters again," she finished, then blushed. "I doubt we will, because there's only so many bad guys you can fight."  
  
"I wouldn't be so sure," Rei commented, overhearing the conversation as she returned to the room. "We thought that after we defeated Beryl, and then Wiseman showed up."  
  
"Rei's right," Luna affirmed, appearing in the open window. "A senshi's job is nearly never done."  
  
"Luna!" Usagi exclaimed, "Where have you been?"  
  
"Nowhere," the cat quickly answered, jumping down from the windowsill to the floor.  
  
"Nowhere, really?" Rei asked in a tone that showed she didn't believe that one bit, "Is it a nice place this time of year?"  
  
Luna sighed and settled down on the floor, "If you really want to know, I was out patrolling. I have a bad feeling that something is going to happen."  
  
"Picking up on Rei-chan's premonitions now are we?" Minako said, stooping over to pick the cat off on the floor.  
  
"Actually, Mina-chan, I've been getting very vague vibes over the last week, but today they doubled in their intensity and I know I'm not just imagining it now," Rei stated.  
  
"You can't mean that maybe," Usagi questioned, her eye's wide, "maybe Wiseman has come back?"  
  
"No, Usagi-chan, he's dead," Rei assured her. "And these vibes seem to come from a new source. But anything beyond that I'm unsure of."  
  
"You could consult your fire," Ami suggested.  
  
"I've tried that already, but the flames are unusually quiet," Rei replied and sighed.  
  
"We'll just have to keep our eyes out for anything unusual, then," Luna stated matter-of-factly.  
  
"Hai," the girls agreed.  
  
~*~  
  
Usagi sat at her small desk on the floor in her room, trying to finish her math homework, as Luna supervised. Only ten or so minutes after the girls had agreed to keep their eyes peeled, the study group split up and everyone went to their respective homes. The blonde had still not finished her homework, so Luna had immediately hid all her comic books when they returned home, then hovered around Usagi as she made sure the blonde actually worked.  
  
"Luna-chan," Usagi whined, "this is too hard! Why do they assign such hard homework?"  
  
"Usagi-chan, it wouldn't be so hard if you actually paid attention during class," Luna replied, annoyed.  
  
"But it's not fair--!" Usagi continued, but was cut off by her cat waving a paw at her.  
  
Luna's ears were perked up and she was apparently listening to something. Usagi stayed quiet as well, and strained her hearing to figure out what had intrigued the cat. Faintly, coming from the living room TV downstairs, she could hear the reporter for the evening news.  
  
"-chaos reigning here at the Tokyo Mall and still no sign of the Sailor Senshi," the reporter was saying. In the background several screams split the air as he continued, "The origins of this thing causing all this havoc is unknown, but it appears to be claiming the energy of many shoppers…"  
  
"Usagi!" Luna whispered, "We need Sailor Moon! Call the others and go!"  
  
"Ok!" She answered, then flipped open her communicator, "Ami-chan! Rei-chan! Mako-chan! Mina-chan! There's something going on at the Tokyo Mall! Meet me there as soon as you can!"  
  
"Hai!" They affirmed, then turned clicked off their own communicators.  
  
"Moon crystal power, make up!" Usagi yelled after flipping shut her own.  
  
After her transformation sequence, she bounded out the window and ran down the street at top speed toward the Tokyo Mall.  
  
~*~  
  
"Oh! That's a simply kawaii necklace!" Trish exclaimed in glee as she examined the necklace in a small jewelry store situated towards the center of the mall. "If only I had money!" She sighed, and moved on to the next one.  
  
When she finally got to the end of the row of necklaces, she sighed wistfully one last time, then turned and left the store. Outside, she glanced around at the numerous shop signs, trying to comprehend the Japanese scrawled across each one, when she heard a hiss near by her, then a lady screaming bloody murder.  
  
"Hell-o!" Trish cried in English as she spun around to see what was going on.  
  
In front of her the lady who had apparently screamed laid lifeless on the tile floor, her eyes rolled up into her head. A creature of which Trish had never seen stood next to her: it appeared to be a shadow at first, shaped like a woman, except for the brilliant blue eyes that floated around in her head area.  
  
"Gah!" Trish yelped at the sight of the shadow creature, and took an involuntary jump backwards.  
  
The shadow paid no heed to her, though, but suddenly attacked a group of passersbys who were staring, shocked, at the scene. The group of teenage girls shrieked and tried to run, but the shadow caught the ankles of two and they fell to the ground. The shadow hung onto them for a few moments, then let go, leaving them as lifeless as the lady.  
  
Around her, the crowd in the mall began to panic as they noticed the three bodies and the moving shadow. A few even jumped as they saw their own shadows move, then bolted toward the mall exits. By then the shadow had grabbed three more people, two men, and one young girl, leaving them on the floor where they tripped.  
  
Trish spun around to bolt as well, but then stopped short when she found a camera crew standing in her way.  
  
"The origins of this thing causing all this havoc is unknown, but it appears to be claiming the energy of many shoppers…" a reporter was telling the camera.  
  
The shadow lady had just taken down a group of shoppers when she noticed the camera crew. She hissed in delight and rushed towards the camera itself, shoving the startled man out of the way and placing her shadowy hands on the equipment. There was a frazzled spark of protest from the camera before it died and went blank.  
  
"Get that thing away!" The reporter yelled, backing away as fast as he could.  
  
But his outburst drew the shadow off the camera, fixing her eyes on him. He froze in fear and she seized the opportunity to grab his arm for a few moments, letting go as his eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed to the ground.  
  
"Fun," she hissed, the first word she spoke that Trish could recognize.  
  
The shadow looked around for more victims and her bright blue eyes fell on Trish, who quailed under the gaze but found she was unable to run. The shadow advanced towards her, both shadowy hands outstretched. Trish finally found she could back away, but as soon as she did, the shadow leapt forward and wrapped both her hands around her neck.  
  
"Gah!" The pale girl gagged out as she actually found herself thrown backwards by the weight of the shadow.  
  
"Stop right there!" A girl's voice called from somewhere behind Trish.  
  
The shadow glanced up at the speaker, but still continued to sap Trish's energy and she began to lose her grip on consciousness. At the edges of her vision, she saw five shadowy figures and one that looked like a cat. Suddenly, a well-aimed redrose zoomed past her cheek and into the shadow's hand. The shadow gave a shriek of pain and let go of Trish's neck, leaving her dazed and confused.  
  
"I'm Sailor Moon!" called the voice again.  
  
Four other voices chimed in, "I'm Sailor Mars! I am Sailor Jupiter! I'm Sailor Mercury! And I'm Sailor Venus!"  
  
"On behalf of the moon," the same voice continued. "We shall punish you!"  
  
"Oh yesss?" The shadow hissed, getting off of Trish, and letting her breathe again, "I doubt asss much. I am Umbra!"  
  
She sprang toward one of the figures, who Trish could see was wearing some sort of school uniform, only with a green skirt and a pink bow. The girl backed up in surprise, but Umbra didn't reach for her neck. Instead she stood in place, took a deep breath, and then let it out in a stream of air that seemed tinted blue. It struck the girl in the face, and she froze in place.  
  
"Sailor Jupiter!" Another girl in a red uniform with a purple bow exclaimed. She turned towards the shadow, eyes blazing, and yelled, "Burning mandala!" Flames appeared in the air around her, which she sent at Umbra.  
  
Umbra seemed to grin, though how, since she didn't have a mouth, was unknown, as she let the attack fly straight through her and collide with a shop behind her. The girls stared in surprise at her for a split second, which gave the shadow enough time to let out another blast of frigid air. This time it connected with two of the senshi, the fire one who had attacked earlier and a short girl who had pigtails on top of her head, who reminded Trish of Usagi.  
  
"Sailor Moon! Sailor Mars!" The two remaining girls cried in horror.  
  
A rose flew through the air toward the pig-tailed girl from inside a shop. Umbra saw it, though, and released another blast which made the rose drop out of the air. Trish peered from her spot on the ground inside the shop to see a very surprised looking man dressed up in a tuxedo.  
  
"Umbra, shadow, whatever your name is," Trish called out, trying to help the girls. "Will you go away?" She asked meekly.  
  
The shadow turned towards her and Trish tried to stand on her feet, but barely managed it due to the little energy she had left.  
  
"Did you tell me to go away?" Umbra hissed.  
  
"Err, hai," Trish replied, not so sure it was a good idea any longer.  
  
Umbra lowered her eyes and sent a very thick blast of air at Trish. The pale girl squeezed her eyes shut, expecting the worst. But instead of feeling cold air hit her skin, she felt a warmth spread across it, which strangely seemed to give her courage and strength.  
  
Trish opened her eyes to see Umbra staring at her in amazement, and the other two girls were flabbergasted, but not as nearly so as the black cat who had been watching from the sidelines the entire time.  
  
"Another Sailor Senshi?!" The cat, and unless Trish was hallucinating, exclaimed.  
  
"Luna, do you know who that is?" The girl in a blue uniform asked.  
  
"No," the cat answered, and Trish realized she wasn't hallucinating.  
  
A glow of white brought the pale girl's attention away from them and she strained her eyes upward to see where it was coming from. The light seemed to be coming from her forehead, but that couldn't be right, Trish thought.  
  
Bird song suddenly filled the air that had fallen silent, and a mockingbird flew into the area, glowing strangely with a purple light. The mockingbird swirled around in the air, then flew above Trish. Something white glimmered in its claws, and the bird dropped it from the air into Trish's hand, who caught it instinctively. The bird's song ceased and it vanished, but Trish didn't notice for she was busy studying the white thing.  
  
It appeared to be etched from a starch white stone into the shape of a half of a yingyang. She gazed at it for a moment more before getting another instinctive feeling.  
  
Without realizing what she was doing, Trish raised both of her hands into the air while clutching the stone and called, "Platos star power, make up!"  
  
The white stone glowed brightly through her fingers and dropped from her hands, stopping to hover in front of her chest. A cone-shaped wall of bright, nearly white, flame rose up above her out-stretched hands from beneath her feet as she stood on tiptoe and twirled around like a ballet figurine in the air. Through the wall could barely be seen the outline of Trish's body as a body piece, then a skirt appeared on her. The rest of a sailor outfit very much like the one's the other two girls were wearing appeared and the flame widened at her feet to the same width across as the top before curling up upon itself and vanishing.  
  
Trish was left standing in a completely white fuku, from her elbow-long gloves to her ankle-high boots. She had one gloved hand behind her head and the other stretched out to the side. On her head was placed a golden tiara with a white, oval-shaped gem in the middle. On her front bow was the white stone.  
  
Still in her post-transformation position, Trish called, "I'm Sailor Platos and-" she suddenly looked down at her outfit, "-why am I wearing this?!"  
  
Umbra laughed, "How pitiful!"  
  
The two girls looked very surprised and extremely confused. The one with a blue outfit turned to the little black cat on the ground next to her.  
  
"Who is Sailor Platos?" She asked.  
  
But the cat looked like it had seen a ghost, if that was possible for a cat to look like. It continued staring at Trish, but muttered back to the girl, "I thought they were only a legend."  
  
"What? What do you mean?" She continued pressing.  
  
"Enough chat!" Umbra growled, getting impatient at the lack of attention, "Sssenssshi are sssenssshi and all sssenssshi ssshould die!"  
  
"Not yet!" The girl in orange and yellow exclaimed, "Venus love me chain!"  
  
She threw a long chain of orange hearts at the shadow. Umbra looked at it, then turned toward Trish as it went straight through her.  
  
"Huh?!" She exclaimed.  
  
The blue girl had a small computer out in one hand and a blue-tinted visor had appeared across her eyes. "Sailor Venus, all of our attacks go through it. Hold on while I scan it for a weakness…"  
  
"Yeah, just hurry," the girl called Sailor Venus replied.  
  
"I'm not an it!" Umbra cried, spinning around toward them, "I'm a ssshe!"  
  
In her anger, she let out another breath of frigid air which fell upon Sailor Venus. A block of ice formed around her and her expression froze to a shocked look.  
  
"I've got it!" The blue girl cried, then looked up to see her friend frozen.  
  
Her face dropped as she stared at Sailor Venus. Then she glanced around the room, noted that everyone else was also frozen, and her eyes fell upon Trish.  
  
"Fire!" She continued, "If you aim a fire attack at her eyes, that should do it!"  
  
"Attack? Like the thing that Venus gal just did?" Trish replied dumbly, "Look, I'm just an innocent bystander, whoever you are."  
  
"Sailor Mercury," she replied. "And you aren't a bystander. You're a senshi!"  
  
"Sailor Platos!" The black cat called, and Trish looked around to see who she was addressing. "There's no one else here, Platos! You have to help! We need to release Sailor Mars so we can defeat this monster!"  
  
"Sailor Mars?" Trish blinked, "Are you all named after planets?"  
  
"Yes!" Sailor Mercury answered, starting to look exasperated, "Sailor Mars is the senshi with a mainly red fuku. I would try to release her, but my attacks are based on ice and that'd only add to the problem! I'm sure you- agh!"  
  
While the conversed, Umbra had become more annoyed. They didn't notice when she suddenly disappeared, and now she reappeared behind Sailor Mercury and grabbed her neck.  
  
"Sailor Mercury!" The cat exclaimed, and tried to pounce of the shadow, but instead sailed right through.  
  
Trish was filled with fear; she had no idea what to do. She glanced around, looking for any help, and noticed the man who had thrown the rose was also encased in a block of ice. Sighing, she closed her eyes and tried to relax. Instantly, an image of flames burst into her mind, and she found herself holding her hands cupped together out in front of her.  
  
"Cyclone inferno!" Trish yelled.  
  
Around her feet once again rose a wall of blazing white flame which rose upwards to cover her head. But this time it continued upwards, first showing her feet, then skirt, then head as it shaped itself into a tornado above her head. The fiery tornado floated from there into her cupped hands. Trish threw it forward and watched as it sped toward Umbra and Mercury.  
  
Umbra's eyes widened in fear and she disappeared in a spark of blue light, letting Sailor Mercury breathe again. She saw the cyclone and rolled out of the way, then watched it as it continued on its path, swerving around the ice blocks.  
  
As it passed each block, the ice melted into a puddle, releasing each of the sailor suited girls onto the floor. They girls coughed and hacked, not bothering to brush their soaking wet hair out of their eyes. When the tornado passed the last girl, it dispersed in a swirl of smoke.  
  
"She's gone," Sailor Venus stated, being the first to her feet.  
  
"But who's she?" The one Trish identified as Sailor Mars asked, looking at her.  
  
"I'm Trish," she replied.  
  
"Meet Sailor Platos, everyone," the cat said strolling up in front of Trish.  
  
"Sailor who?" A girl with blonde pigtails atop her head asked.  
  
"Another senshi?" The girl with a green based outfit wondered.  
  
"Luna, would you care to explain?" Sailor Mars said.  
  
"Certainly," the cat, Luna, answered. "But best not here. I think we should all go back to your temple for this."  
  
"Wait just a second," Trish interrupted. "I know you're Mars," she went on, pointing at each, "You're Mercury, you're Venus, and you're Luna, but who're the rest of you? And who is that man over there?" She jerked her head toward the still frozen man.  
  
"Tuxedo Kamen!" The pig-tailed girl exclaimed and ran to the man.  
  
"That's Sailor Moon," Mercury explained, walking over to Trish. "And she's Sailor Jupiter," she pointed at the tallest of the girls.  
  
"He's frozen!" Sailor Moon yelped.  
  
"I'll fix that," Sailor Mars said smugly. "Burning mandala!"  
  
The flames quickly melted the ice into a puddle around the man's feet and he fell over. Sailor Moon caught him in her arms, staggered a few feet under his weight, then placed him gently on the floor with Sailor Venus' help.  
  
"Oh, Mamo-chan, wake up!" Sailor Moon cried, dropping to her knees next to him and running a hand through his hair.  
  
A few moments later he groaned, opened one eye, then the other, and sat up. "Sailor Moon…is that shadow gone?" He asked, rubbing his head with one hand.  
  
"Oh I'm so glad your okay!" She replied, not answering his question. She grabbed him and placed him in a tight hug.  
  
Sailor Venus nodded yes when he glanced over at her for help. Tuxedo Kamen looked relieved as he let Sailor Moon hug him. After a few minutes, he was able to pry her off enough to stand to his feet. He noticed Trish for the first time and his eyes widened.  
  
"Who're you?" Tuxedo Kamen wondered.  
  
"Me?" Trish queried, looked around to make sure she was the one he was talking to, then answered, "Trish, Trish Conti, uh, I mean, Conti Trish."  
  
"Which is your first name? Trish?" He asked, confused, and Trish nodded.  
  
The man wearing a cape looked like he was about to ask another question, but a large team of reporters came running through the mall toward them, cameras rolling. The girls around her stared at the group for a moment, until the reporters starting shouting to each other excidedly as they spotted them. Then they nodded to each other and ran the other direction.  
  
Trish stared stupidly after them for a second, until Sailor Mercury noticed. She came running back to her, grabbed the pale girl's hand, and dragged her along.  
  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
A/N: Sailor Moon and characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi, anybody else belongs to me. Simple? Simple enough for you to review? Pleasies? *puppy dog eyes* 


	3. Chapter Two

A/n: I've written more! WAHOO! Um, well, I think that's all you need to know. Hope you guys don't hate me too much, and please, for the love of Gerbils, review!!  
  
~*~*~  
  
The room Umbra returned to was much brighter than she had left it, and she wondered why for a moment before noticing the lit torches in the sconces. The man was sitting in the black chair as she'd left him, but a broom was propped up next to him and the floor was remarkably cleaner. Atra was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't mean she couldn't be waiting in the shadows that still lingered in the corners.  
  
"Back so soon?" The man asked suspiciously, "I'd've thought you'd be gone much longer."  
  
"Sssorry, massster," Umbra began but was interrupted by a wave of the man's hand.  
  
"What hindered you and why didn't you get any energy?" He asked, sounding very tired.  
  
"Oh, I got energy," Umbra replied, looking slightly surprised. She held out one hand and an orb of pulsing energy materialized there. "Not asss much asss I ssshould have."  
  
"Explain," the man pressed, taking the orb from the shadow's hands.  
  
"I had only ssstarted when five girlsss tried to attack me. They were unsssuccesssful and I managed to freeze them in a ssshort time. But then another girl I had tried to take the energy of earlier changed into an outfit like theirsss and attacked me with fire," Umbra explained, fear showing in her eyes as she said the last part. "I'm sssorry massster, but I ran in fear."  
  
"They attacked you?" His expression became concerned, "And they weren't wearing strange outfits, were they? With very short skirts?"  
  
"Yesss, they were," the shadow answered.  
  
"Damn!" The man punched the arm of the chair in anger, "What are they doing on Earth?! They're supposed to be on the Moon protecting their dear princess."  
  
"Massster, the Moon isss no more," Atra stated, emerging from the shadows.  
  
"What?!" He exclaimed, his eyes widening even more, "The whole Moon? That can't be possible!"  
  
"It'sss ssstill there, but the Moon Kingdom isss not," Atra clarified.  
  
The man smiled, "I wonder who had the honor of finally destroying that lot of pompous 'royalty'." He sighed wistfully, "If only I was there…"  
  
"Massster?" Atra asked, confused.  
  
He shook his head and came out of his thoughts, remembering suddenly that he was still holding the orb of energy. "Will this be enough, Atra?" He queried, holding it out towards her.  
  
The shadow picked it off his hand and studied it for a few moments. She shook her head quickly, "No, thisss isss not sssufficient. We need at leassst three timesss thisss amount," she turned to the blue-eyed shadow. "Umbra, will you go and gather more?"  
  
"Yesss, Massster," Umbra replied, bowing her head and turning to go.  
  
"And try to hold off the Sssailor Sssenssshi until you get enough, thisss time," Atra added and Umbra leaped up through the hole in the roof.  
  
~*~  
  
Trish eventually shook her hand free of Sailor Mercury's, and began to trail the group for a few minutes. They ran down several streets and through one alley before even starting to slow down, and Trish was finally able to marvel at how she had been able to run so far.  
  
Then the group started running faster again, but Trish felt so tired that she let them get ahead, then out of sight as they rounded a corner. She stopped, and looked around at her surroundings. Even in the dark, she recognized it as the same street that her host family lived on. The light from the full moon let her see the actual house only a few yards away, but not the bird that was perched in a tree outside the house's front gate.  
  
A sigh escaped her lips as she tilted her head back to gaze at the perfectly round satellite surrounded by much smaller sprinkles of light. There was something special about this particular full moon, but she couldn't quite remember it. Suddenly, it came back to her; it was the second full moon in one month, therefore making it a blue moon.  
  
Trish laughed softly to herself and whispered, "Heh, makes since. This sort of thing does only happen once in a blue moon."  
  
"Chirp!" The bird in the tree called, breaking the silence of the night.  
  
The pale girl jumped several feet into the air, then landed, glancing around frantically for the origin of the disturbance. But then she regained her composure and laughed loudly, berating herself for being so jumpy. After all, it was only a bird.  
  
"Chirp!" The bird called again, and this time Trish was able to see it jumping from branch to branch in the tree, a dark shadow against the moonlight shining through the tree.  
  
"Silly bird," Trish said, still smiling. "You scared the daylights out of me."  
  
The 'silly' bird at that point decided to stop hopping around and launched itself from the tree. It glided swiftly down at Trish's face, causing her to step back in surprise and raise her hands to protect her face. But there was no need, for the bird landed gracefully on her shoulder.  
  
"Okay, um, I don't have any food, birdie!" Trish exclaimed, trying to dislodge the bird from her shoulder.  
  
As she did so, she recognized the bird to be a mockingbird. In fact, it resembled the same bird that had given her the white stone. Which reminded her that she was still in that silly outfit.  
  
Unable to get the bird off her shoulder, she sighed and said to it, "Okay, okay, you can stay. But I don't believe you know how to get out of this ridiculous outfit?"  
  
"Chirp!" The bird replied, and launched itself from her shoulder.  
  
It flew around her once, and she watched curiously as it then hovered in front of the white stone that was attached to her front bow. The bird grabbed the stone with its feet and then tried to fly away with it. Trish, getting the gist of what the bird was trying to convey, flicked it away and grabbed the stone herself. A second later, she held it in her hand and watched curiously as her white outfit disappeared in a swirl of smoke, leaving her in blue jeans and a baby blue, sleeveless shirt as she had been.  
  
"Well, arigatou, bird!" Trish said, somewhat surprised that it had worked. "Now, if only you'd explain how you knew to do that in the first place…and why I'm talking to a bird."  
  
She slapped herself on her forehead with the back of her hand, "I'm losing it! Talking to a bird! Okay, where's the psychiatrist's number?"  
  
The bird chirped again, and returned from lazily circling around her head to land on the pale girl's shoulder. This time Trish didn't try to dislodge the bird, and instead began walking briskly home.  
  
"Ah, Irukano-san is going to kill me for being out so late," she thought out loud as she dashed up to the door of her host family's house and swiftly unlocked it with a spare key they had given her.  
  
Inside, all the lights were out and it appeared as if the whole family, which included a married couple and three kids, had already retired to bed. Trish tiptoed down one hallway to her designated room, which she had to herself, and pushed open the door slowly to avoid the squeaky hinges she knew were there before slipping quietly through.  
  
"I suppose you're hungry," Trish stated, as the mockingbird flapped off her shoulder and landed on her empty desk.  
  
The bird nodded enthusiastically, very much unlike a bird, so the blonde quietly slipped off to the kitchen where she knew there was birdseed kept for an outdoor birdfeeder in the back yard. She returned a few moments later with a small bowl filled to the brim and placed it on the desk next to the bird. A few minutes of silence went by as she gazed at it while it ate.  
  
"You're a very strange bird," Trish commented in a whisper. "Acting as if you know what I'm saying. Someone must've trained you. Tell me, do you have a name?"  
  
It nodded again, and then glanced around as if searching for something. The blonde watched it curiously as it gave up its search and began to take seeds out of the bowl and pile them on the desk. She became even more curious when the bird started to arrange them in letters on the desk.  
  
A short moment later, Trish read aloud, "Ora? Is that your name, then?"  
  
Ora, again, nodded enthusiastically.  
  
"Geez Louise, Ora!" Trish exclaimed, a bit too loud, "You birds are a lot smarter than people think!"  
  
The bird nodded again, and then surprised the blonde by launching into the air. She watched in fascination as it performed an expert, midair spiral, but cried out in alarm as a bright, white flash emitted from the bird. When Trish could see again, Ora was flying straight at her again with a large, white piece of cloth in his claws.  
  
Ora dropped the cloth in her lap and swerved around to land on Trish's shoulder. The blonde, still amazed and confused, stared at the heap of white cloth for a full minute before gently poking it with one finger. Satisfied when it neither blew up nor moved, she picked it up and inspected it carefully.  
  
Trish found that the piece of cloth was actually a sort of sash, with a small pouch sewn on. She discovered a pale orange powdery substance inside the pouch, which she put a few sprinkles of on one finger and stared at it, trying to figure out what it was. The orange coloring of the powder danced before her eyes, like flame…  
  
POOF! The bit of powder burst in flame, and Trish was so startled by it that she didn't even register that she the fire wasn't burning her hand. But when she did, the calm spell the flame seemed to have over her kept her from screaming bloody murder. Instead, she continued to gaze at it, probing it with her mind, and watching in fascination as it grew and shrank to her will.  
  
Only a lone owl hoot from outside brought her forcefully back to Earth, extinguishing the small flame as she did. Horrified that she had been holding a flame that long, she quickly inspected her hand, but found no evidence of burn. It was only warm to her touch.  
  
Still curious, Trish took out another bit of powder and made it burst into flame again. Ora watched, an aura of pride around the bird, as the blonde worked with the flame.  
  
~*~  
  
"Conti-san! Are you awake yet?" Iruka, the youngest of the three children in the family, called, gently opening the door to Trish's room.  
  
Trish wearily opened one eye to check the clock, then bolted straight up as she saw the time. She hadn't even realized she had fallen asleep, and now she scanned the room for the fire she had been working on when she did. Not seeing it, she concluded that it must've gone out on it's own.   
  
For at least three more hours that night, Trish had practiced her skills with the small bit of flame. In that short amount of time she had been able to make the flame burn up a piece of scrap paper while sitting in the palm of her hand and grow or shrink to several various different sizes, including dime sized and almost as large as her rectangular pillow.  
  
"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Trish yelped to the startled girl, and shoved the door shut in her face so she could change into her school uniform.  
  
A short few seconds later, she raced down the hallway to breakfast, completely forgetting the mockingbird that was still asleep on her dresser, and leaving the white sash next to the bird.  
  
~*~  
  
Trish was so tired throughout the school day that she didn't even notice Usagi, Ami, or a mockingbird trying to get her attention until she began her trek back "home" after school. The two humans came running up to her then, with another, unfamiliar, blonde girl tagging along.  
  
"Hello," Trish mumbled for a greeting in English and gave the three a very unenthusiastic half-wave.  
  
"Konnichi-wa, Trish-chan!" Usagi called cheerfully as they stopped in front of her, preventing Trish from continuing on her way.  
  
"I'm Aino Minako," greeted the new girl, whose rich blonde hair went way down her back even with a large red bow in it.  
  
"Hello Aino-san," Trish replied in the same monotone voice as she looked for a way around them.  
  
"Trish-chan, would you like to come to our study session today?" Ami asked immediately.  
  
"Study session?" Trish blinked, then shook her head, "I'm not so sure…I'm so tired…"  
  
"Please, Trish-chan!" Minako begged, surprising the pale girl with the informality, "We want you to meet the others! Rei-chan and Makoto-chan both want to meet you, even if you don't want to meet them!"  
  
Trish was so tired that she didn't feel like arguing, "Oh, all right. But when is it?"  
  
"Right after school, or as soon as you can get there," Ami informed her.  
  
"I'd better go tell Nikirau-san where I am, first," Trish stated, and the other three finally let her continue walking home, but they went with her.  
  
The pale girl would've ambled the entire way to her host family's house, but the threesome rushed her forward, making her walk quickly. By the time she had gone there and then hurried off to the shrine where the study session was taking place, she felt like she was going to fall over dead.  
  
"Can I sleep please?" Trish mumbled as she stumbled through the doors of the Shinto shrine, aided on both sides by Ami and Minako.  
  
"Konnichi-wa!" Usagi cried to the two girls waiting inside, and bounded through the door, nearly making Trish fall flat on her face, which she did anyway.  
  
"Trish-chan! Are you okay?" Ami exclaimed, and bent down to help the blonde up, who feebly tried to push her away.  
  
"Noooo, let me sleep," Trish moaned.  
  
"Up!" Someone barked, and Trish found herself being hauled to her feet to face an angry Shinto priestess with raven black hair and deep purple eyes, "You can sleep when you go home!"  
  
"Hai, we have important things to discuss now," Ami stated, and helped the priestess set Trish down in a sitting position. "So please stay awake."  
  
"Gomen," Trish replied, rubbing her eyes to help wake her up more. "I was up nearly all night…" she trailed off, realizing that she probably shouldn't tell them about the flame if she didn't want to end up in an asylum, "…studying."  
  
The priestess and a girl with dark brown hair tied up in a ponytail and green eyes both raised their eyebrows, not quite believing that. But the two blondes took it happily, while Ami had already started studying. A silence fell over the group, and Trish became uncomfortable with the feeling that the priestess was studying her.  
  
"So, uh, hello," Trish said, trying to break the silence. "I'm Conti Trish, uh, and, um…"  
  
"I'm Hino Rei," the priestess stated, with a bit more warmth than Trish had expected. "And she's Kino Makoto," she gestured toward the brown haired girl, and paused briefly before saying bluntly, "And you're Sailor Platos."  
  
At that moment, Trish preformed the longest blink in history. "Excuse me?"  
  
"Do you know anything about that shadow…thing that attacked us yesterday night?" Rei asked, almost demandingly.  
  
"Rei-chan, I doubt she knows any more than we do," Makoto said.  
  
"Makoto-chan is right," a new voice said, and a black cat came strolling in from the slightly ajar door.  
  
"The-the cat…talked!" Trish squeaked, pointing wildly at the cat who was now padding towards her.  
  
"Yes, I can speak," the cat affirmed, and Trish realized it was the same cat that had been in the mall when she noticed the moon-shaped mark on its forehead. "My name is Luna, and I'm the guardian of the Sailor Senshi."  
  
"Sailor senshi?" Trish blinked, "You mean those girls dressed up in different colored school uniforms that helped me attack that shadow - what was its name? - Umbra last night?"  
  
Luna and the girls nodded.  
  
"But then…" Trish continued, and suddenly it all clicked into place, "You guys would be those girls!"  
  
They nodded again, and Luna said, "You're one of us too, now. Though what perplexes me is why…"  
  
"Luna-chan?" Usagi looked confused.  
  
"Yes, Luna-chan, you said something yesterday about a 'legend'," Ami said. "What did you mean?"  
  
The cat sighed and settled into a more comfortable position, "It's a long story, but if you want to hear it…"  
  
The other girls, including Trish, nodded silently.  
  
"Back when I was a young kitten, during the Silver Millennium, when you five were still toddlers," Luna began, "there was an old, silver cat who would tell stories to the young princesses and cats of the Moon Kingdom. One of his favorite tales to tell was about the Legend of the Dimension Senshi. There were four of them, each a guardian of their respective dimension, and they always showed up in times of great crisis. But in between those times, they disappeared and lost their memories, to wander among common people.  
  
"The old cat's favorite story to tell of these four was supposedly the most recent. It was the last battle before the Silver Millennium, against a large, unthinking, but extremely destructive force. It took all of their power, and the queen at the time's, Queen Summisa, to capture the thing inside an asteroid that came past this system once every thousand years.  
  
"I never believed these Legends to be true, especially since we saw nothing of the foursome when Queen Beryl attacked the Moon Kingdom. But they must be, because we just found the first of the four last night, and now she's sitting in front of us," Luna concluded and settled her gaze on a now beet red Trish. She soon turned a deeper shade of red as the other girls fixed their gazes on her too.  
  
"Do you mean to say, Luna, that if they had been there during the attack of Queen Beryl, the Moon Kingdom might not have been destroyed?" Makoto asked in a voice quite close to a growl.  
  
"What? No, I never said that," Luna replied, a bit confused.  
  
"But it's true, isn't it?" Rei joined in, "They abandoned us when they were needed most!"  
  
"Rei-chan," Ami tried to intervene, "There probably was a reason…"  
  
"Why?" Minako interrupted, looking at Trish, "Why weren't you there? Did you suddenly decide we weren't good enough for you?"  
  
"Uh, um," Trish spluttered, backing away, "I don't even know what you guys are talking about!"  
  
"Guys," Usagi spoke up.  
  
"And how come you appear now?" Rei continued, ignoring Usagi, "Right as a new enemy appears?"  
  
"Yeah, how do we know you're not one of the enemy?" Makoto asked, leaning forward.  
  
"Guys…" Usagi tried interrupting again.  
  
"Stop it!" Trish cried, halting Rei as she was about to talk, "I don't know anything, alright?! I don't know what you're talking about, this 'Moon Kingdom' of yours! Nor do I know this Beryl lady nor do I know what in the stars that shadow…thing was! So leave me alone!"  
  
Silence fell over the group as Trish looked at the startled faces before her, then bolted from the room. They watched as she ran down the shrine steps and disappeared from sight before breaking the silence.  
  
"Guys," Usagi tried again, "I was trying to say that she probably didn't remember anything like us, when we first found out we were senshi."  
  
"Wow, odango atama actually had something intelligent to say," Rei commented coldly.  
  
"I'm disappointed in you, girls," Luna cut in before Usagi could retort. "You scared away our newest member, who probably could've helped us with this new enemy."  
  
~*~  
  
Trish tried to stay away from Usagi and Ami the next day as best she could, but she couldn't find any way to disappear when lunchtime came around. Not only Ami and Usagi, but also Minako and Makoto quickly found her, though, when she plopped down beneath a large tree.  
  
"Konnichi-wa," she greeted them dully, "Are you guys going to accuse me again of not being somewhere I've never heard of?"  
  
"No," Makoto stated.  
  
"We're sorry about that," Minako replied. "We got carried away yesterday."  
  
"We didn't mean to scare you away," Makoto spoke.  
  
"Apology accepted!" Trish cried happily, and bit into her sandwich.  
  
"Will you join us?" Usagi asked hopefully.  
  
"It would probably help us against this new enemy to have a sixth senshi," Ami commented, and sat down next to the blonde.  
  
"Well, I guess," Trish stated. "I don't really have much of a choice, do I?"  
  
"You have a choice," Makoto said, looking surprised. "You can help us defend this planet or you can be a normal school kid."  
  
"I don't have much of a choice," she repeated. "Already, I'm not a normal school kid. So I'll help. Just please, don't go off on me like you guys did yesterday?"  
  
"We won't," Ami replied, smiling.  
  
The other three girls sat down also, and they ate their lunch peacefully. When lunch was over, Makoto and Minako went their separate ways to their own classrooms, while Trish, Usagi, and Ami strolled off to theirs. Halfway there, though, Trish had a sudden thirst, so she left the other two in search of a water fountain.  
  
She was returning to the classroom after a futile search for a fountain when she heard a rather shrill scream followed by a girl shouting, "The shadows are alive!"  
  
Curious, Trish peeked her head around a corner to see a very frightened teenager staring at a shadow that had icy blue eyes and looked very familiar. The blonde nearly fainted with her own fright as she ducked back around the corner, hoping Umbra hadn't seen her.  
  
"Ah, ah, ah," she stuttered, running frantic circles in her mind as she tried to figure out what to do. Her hand came across the white stone she had left in her pocket and she took it out for a moment, gazing stupidly at it. Trish suddenly knew what to do, though, when another scream from the poor girl was cut abruptly short and she heard the thud of a body on the tile.  
  
She held the stone up above her head and called, "Platos star power, make UP!"  
  
After the pale flames dispersed, leaving Trish still wondering what she was doing, she found herself calling out, "I am Sailor Platos, guardian of the first dimension! For whatever reason I have to wear this extremely short skirt, I shall, um, give you a good whacking!"  
  
Umbra laughed, "Ssstill pitiful, but I mussst admit it isss an improvement on yesssterday!"  
  
"Why, thank you!" Platos replied, beaming, "I do try!"  
  
"Welcome," Umbra stated, then narrowed her two blue eyes. "But I musst continue with my mission, and right now, you're in my way."  
  
The Shadow blew out a thick blast of icy blue air, and Sailor Platos stared at it briefly before the notion of getting out of the way came to her. The white senshi dropped to her hands and knees, barely giving the air enough room to fly over her head without hindrance.  
  
"Not nice, not nice!" Platos squeaked, scrambling to her feet. "Isn't there some sort of law saying you can't attack that fast?"  
  
"No," Umbra returned with another blast that had Platos dropping to the floor again.  
  
As soon as she felt the coldness pass over her head, the white senshi jumped to her feet and bolted down the hallway. She swerved around the corner and dived into a bathroom, which, conviently, had it's door propped open by a janitor. Platos peered out the door long enough to see another blast of air hit the far wall and freeze it solid.  
  
Gently, she shut the door, and then heaved a sigh of relief as she put her back to it, eyes closed. A startled noise that sounded almost like a cough made her eyelids fly back open. A female janitor had just emerged from one of the stalls and looked rightly surprised to see a girl dressed up in a strangely colored school uniform.  
  
"Uh, konnichi-wa," Platos called to her, and gave a halfhearted wave. "Sorry to intrude on your work and all, but I'm in a predicament."  
  
"I'm not surprised if the principal is chasing you around for what you did to that uniform," she replied tartly, quickly regaining her composure that had been lost by the surprise.  
  
"Uh, well, it's a bit more of a predicament then that," the white senshi coughed.  
  
"I can't imagine why you kids do those things," the janitor muttered darkly.  
  
"Oh, Sssenssshi!" Umbra's voice called from outside, and Platos quickly pressed back harder against the door to stop her from getting in.  
  
"What was that?" The janitor asked curiously, and strode forward with one hand outstretched so she could see for herself.  
  
"No!" Platos exclaimed, stopping her briefly.  
  
"There you are!" Umbra cried as she stuck her translucent head through the door.  
  
Platos and the janitor both gave off blood curdling screams, and the Shadow winced visibly. The white senshi continued screaming even as Umbra spotted the janitor and came all the through the door to wrap her hands around the lady's neck, causing her scream to cut off abruptly.  
  
Meanwhile, Platos lost all of her composure and bolted down the hallway, screaming bloody murder as she went until she finally collapsed from exhaustion in front of a classroom. Curious students disobeyed their teachers to poke their heads out the door and stare at the trembling girl.  
  
"No, no, go back into your classrooms! I've got everything under control!" Platos managed to squeak out. A few of the students began to giggle.  
  
"I'm not ssso easssy to lossse," Umbra said, her two blue eyes suddenly appearing in front of the senshi at her own eye level.  
  
The students promptly stopped giggling when they saw the living Shadow, and a few of the ones who had watched the news a few nights before immediately scrambled back into their classroom. Sailor Platos stifled a screech and began backing up as fast as she could on her hands and knees. Umbra grinned wickedly and grabbed her throat with both of her hands.  
  
Platos gagged and tried to pry the Shadow's fingers off as her energy was being steadily sucked away. She gave up, but gathered up her last bit of energy.  
  
"Cyclone inferno!" She yelled, and fired her attack at point blank range,  
  
Umbra's eyes widened in fear, but she didn't have enough time to react. With a last hissing screech, she was consumed in flames and went up in a swirl of smoke. Platos sighed and collapsed back to the ground. All too soon, though, she felt herself being dragged back to her feet.  
  
"Platos! Sailor Platos! Are you okay?" Sailor Moon asked, shaking her back to consciousness.  
  
"No, not really," Platos mumbled, opening her eyes to the sight of the other Sailor Senshi, minus Mars, standing around her.  
  
Sailor Mercury glanced around at the students still watching and whispered, "I think we'd better find a quieter place then this."  
  
"Hai," the others agreed.  
  
It took both Jupiter, Venus, and Moon to effectively drag Platos along until they found an empty bathroom to dump her in. Platos ripped off the white stone attached to her front bow and watched dully as her outfit turned back into the school uniform.   
  
The others detransformed also, and then began to interrogate Trish about what had happened until Ami interrupted to tell them they should probably return to class. Grudgingly, they agreed and split their separate ways, but made the pale girl promise to come with them to the study session that afternoon.  
  
~*~  
  
"WHAT?!"   
  
Atra cringed as the thundering cry echoed around the small room several times. The orange haired man' face had gone an interesting shade of red as he battled to control his growing temper after the Shadow had told him about Umbra's demise. She was dismayed too, of course, that one of her own had been defeated, but not nearly as much as he seemed to be.  
  
"Ah, ah," he mumbled, regaining his composure. "I believe that we've underestimated these senshi." He took a deep breath and sat back down in the black stone chair, "So, maybe we should go with a different plan of gathering energy. Something…more effective. Our last attempt harbored nothing, since all the energy was returned when Umbra was so brutally murdered."  
  
"Massster, if I may ssspeak?" Atra hissed, relieved that the man was thinking rationally and not rampaging about with his anger.  
  
"Hai, hai, go ahead," he nodded.  
  
"I have a plan that should produce much energy," Atra said. "Thessse humansss frequently congregate together in large groupsss. If we ssstruck fassst at one of thessse groupsss, we could obtain plenty of energy and be sssafely back before thossse sssenssshi even heard about it."  
  
"Makes sense," the man nodded, and scratched his chin. "Well, the sooner you put this plan to good use, the better. Go ahead and send a Shadow out to this task."  
  
"Yesss, Massster," Atra closed her single eye, then spun around to face the dark corner. "Sssportula!"  
  
"Yesss?" A Shadow stepped forward from the corner and opened all three of her jade green eyes.  
  
"I'm sssure you heard Massster," Atra stated. "Go quickly and try not to let thossse sssenssshi interfere!"  
  
Sportula closed her two outer eyes in affirmation before jumping up through the hole in the roof and zooming off toward the green and blue planet.  
  
~*~*~  
  
A/N: Please review? Please? It only takes a few seconds out of your life, and that few seconds gives me minutes of unspeakable joy. 


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